During w00tstock last week, I mentioned that I was turning 38 this week. After the show, Anne told me that I was, in fact, turning 39. In the few seconds that it took me to do some math, I lost a year of my life. Apparently, this is the sort of thing that happens when you get to be my age, which...

Hi all, after watching this vid I just HAD to drop in and say hi to you all. I've always been a geek, background in science, now work in IT, and while at university in the mid 80's was introduced to gaming. Ever since then I've enjoyed this pass-time with likeminded friends. Now that our group is in its late 30's/early 40's we are finding it more difficult to get all of together on a routine basis as family and work commitments get in the way, but I can kind of see a day 20-30 years in the future where we are all hanging out in a retirement village, rolling dice and righting wrongs :)
On the topic of female gamers, over the years I've had the pleasure of playing with some excellent and not-so-excellent gamers of both genders, and have also been in a group where the GM did something quite similar to the rape scenario mentioned by Shirleyjack above. I'm fairly certain in our group it was because the GM had the hots fot the young woman in question, and this was his twisted way of trying to attract her attention. I wasn't overly impressed, and the neither was the player on the receiving end of the scenario. Luckily she stuck it out, had a chat with him outside of the game to sort his issues out, and she was able to continue on playing with no further problems. I guess he was one of those stereotypes in real life, the socially awkward young man who had initial difficulty interacting with women. I think we all learned a valuable lesson from that episode, and that is all part of growing as a person.
Thanks Wil for the excellent blog, and if you're ever in Christchurch, New Zealand, and feel like dropping in for a casual gaming session our group would make you feel welcome. Just make sure you bring some junk food :)

Enter the Dragon from Roshan Murthy on Vimeo. This is a delightful, short documentary about people who play D&D and other RPGs. If you've ever wondered why we play, or if you've ever attempted to explain to someone why we play, I think you'll enjoy it.